Champs Eng in do-or-die situation

In a desperate bid to stay in the hunt for a semifinal berth, England led by Charlotte Edwards will go all out against South Africa in a do-or-die Super Six encounter of the ICC Women’s World Cup at the Barabati Stadium, here on Sunday.

Both teams need to win this encounter to stay alive in the tournament and England will certainly start as favourites against South Africa who haven’t done anything worth taking a note of.

England lost a low-scoring encounter against Australia by two runs while the West Indies beat South Africa by two wickets in their respective opening Super Six games.

England, who were the runners-up during the Women’s World T20, will depend a lot on Edwards to fire. The 33-year-old seasoned pro has had a mixed tournament so far as she has failed to get into double figures Sri Lanka and Australia but scored a century (109) against India in a league match.

Charlotte, who is now 91 runs short of completing 5000 runs in Women’s ODIs, will like to stand up and be counted when her team needs the most.

The bowling attack is in able hands of seamer Katherine Brunt, who has been in good form having taken 10 wickets in four matches so far. All-rounder Aaran Brindle has got five wickets and two scores of 30-plus so far.

For the Proteas eves, all eyes will be on 23-year-old Marizanne Kapp, who has had an excellent tournament with a century and a half-century apart from six wickets.

What has been worrying for South Africa is lack of team effort and the poor form of their skipper Mignou du Preez.